Retreating to Advance

By Cathy Perkins

The weekend marked the 10^th anniversary of our writing retreat. Wow, ten years. Ten years ago, Rachel Grant, Rebecca Clark, Courtney Milan, Darcy Burke and I were Golden Heart finalists and staged our first retreat. (We invited Elisabeth Naughton to join us several years ago and Kris Kennedy couldn’t come this year.) We’re all multi-published authors now, but we’re also friends. We’ve seen each other’s children grow up, celebrated successes and consoled losses.

The primary focus of the weekend is writing. Usually silence reigns except for the clicking of Elisabeth’s keys, but there are lighter moments too. We reviewed the 432 pictures from Darcy’s photo shoot and picked favorites for book cover potential. Of course, we had to stage our own “shoot.” 

This is our “thoughtful” pose. 

Yeah, not.

One of the most helpful things for me was the business discussion. We talked about goals for the upcoming year and mouths gaped as Darcy described her publication schedule. “I treat it like a job, because that’s what it is,” she explained. In order to meet her schedule, she sets—and meets—daily word counts. 

Her comment echoed Steven King. I listened to On Writing during the drive to Portland. (We change the location every year, but the house is always in the Pacific Northwest.) King said he goes to his writing space every morning and doesn’t come out until he has at least 1500 words on the page. Some days he’s done by noon. Others, he’s there until dinner time.

That’s my takeaway from this year’s retreat. Consistency. Discipline. Sure, I wrote nearly 15,000 words this weekend. Some of them will turn out to be lousy, but the first draft of my latest novel is nearly complete and editing will deal with the clunky sections. But every day since I’ve been home, instead of checking email, social media, and the news when I get up, I write. I’m roughly two scenes away from reaching “The End.”

And then the editing will begin…and the plotting of the next book.

Thanks Darcy. And Steven.   

What about you? Writing retreats? Daily habits? What gets that enormous challenge you're facing done? 

In other news, I'm pretty excited about the cover for the next novel in the Holly Price series.
IN IT FOR THE MONEY releases later this spring. And if I can keep the discipline going, there will be new adventures for Holly and her half-sister, Keri. (Hah, you didn't know about her, did you?)

An award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd. 

Visit her at http://cperkinswrites.com

She's hard at work on the next book in the Holly Price series and a new series set in the Cascade mountains.

On Procrastination & Writing

I am a master of procrastination. I am also a writer.

I know – I shouldn’t be admitting this. Not in public. But we’re all friends here, right?

Deadlines are great. I love deadlines. They tell me when to coast and when to panic. They give me an excuse to stay up late, eat junk food and blow off social commitments I shouldn’t have said yes to in the first place. Because of, you know, that deadline.

Procrastination can be rationalized if you try hard enough. It’s a mental break while your mind is working out what you’re doing next in the background, a.k.a. your subconscious. That Netflix binge is research. Writing a blog post or short story for submission is a workout using a different set of creative muscles.

Then again, maybe you’re just putting off until tomorrow what you were supposed to have gotten done yesterday.

But it’s not all bad. As an expert-level procrastinator, I’ve got a few tricks to get past it and I’m willing to share them with you. Because we’ve all got to face those deadlines sometime, right?

1. Disconnect from the Internet

Turn over your phone and the wifi on your laptop. While not foolproof (phone alerts are still an ongoing distraction), this will dissuade you from falling into a Netflix/Facebook/YouTube/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat etc. vortex of just one click and then I’ll get back to work.

Because it’s never just one click, is it?

2. Leave the house to work

Cafés are great. Bars if you prefer less caffeination and more inebriation to get your writing done. Go where people won’t bug you and there’s enough going on for you to feel like maybe you’re procrastinating when you’re staring off into space for 5 minutes but it’s not 5 hours of binge watching later. And fresh air! Always a good thing.

3. Start Slow

Try paying a bill when it arrives instead of waiting until the day it’s due. Book that dental cleaning appointment instead of delaying until your jaw has swelled to the size of a grapefruit and you need root canal surgery. Get that grant proposal ready a month before the deadline so other people can give you feedback rather than leaving it to 11:59 PM on the day it's due and hoping your internet connection doesn’t drop at that critical moment.

The more you practice, the easier it (should) get. Right?

It’s ok. You’ve got this.

What are your tips and tricks to deal with procrastination? Share them in the comments below.

==

Beth Dranoff writes the Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Suspense Mark of the Moon series, published by CarinaPress / Harlequin and sold through most online booksellers. Currently she’s working on Shifting Loyalties (a.k.a. Mark of the Moon – Book 3). She lives in the Greater Toronto Area with her family, her dog, and more books than she can count. Is it before noon? Then there’s probably a mug of coffee nearby too. Like her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or drop by her site at bethdranoff.com.

Merry Post Christmas!

Another Christmas over: Church services, presents, family visits. Done. But before you head out to the mall to begin the Great Exchange, go ahead and admit it. There’s something you wanted for Christmas – and you didn’t get it. 

Lean in close and whisper your secret desire.

I’ll go first – I wanted a tractor.


Not a toy, the real deal. The kind that until this past year I figured existed only in Kenny Chesney songs (She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy) and square states in the middle of the country. 

Maybe I should explain - we bought land in the mountains (You might've seen a few of my pictures of the deer. And the snow). All around us, guys grow hay to feed their horses or for export to Japan. The former owner of our land’s failure to take care of his property… well, let’s just say it was a sore point in the valley. 

Summer rolled around and the grass started growing, as grass does, but the weeds were getting there faster. So I fired up the Forrest Gump machine. Y’all have seen Forrest Gump one of the nine million times it’s been on TV, right? 

In case you missed it, this is the mower Forrest used: 

It took hours to cut that field. 

And I’m sure you noticed there’s no padding on that seat. 

Fast forward a few weeks and the grass – and the weeds – had done their thing. I looked at Forrest Gump, sighed, and fired it up. I’d made about two laps when my neighbor drove into the field on his enormous John Deere. “Cathy, let me teach you how to drive a tractor.”

That sucker had lots of bells and whistles, buttons, knobs and levers, but it also had a huge mowing deck and the field looked pristine in no time flat. 

And so it went all summer. I’d fire up Forrest Gump, clear the edges and cut around the irrigation heads and my neighbor would show up with his tractor. 

Granted this wasn’t like borrowing a cup of sugar and I lived in fear of somehow breaking it, but I loved that tractor. 


So when the holiday season rolled around, I asked Santa for a tractor. 

Left homemade cookies and everything. 

Our family celebrated Christmas at the new house (yeah, yeah, another story) and when all the packages were open, there wasn’t one with a set of keys. I checked the barn, the garage, the shed. 

No tractor. 

Kinda like the pony when I was a kid. 

Hmmm … I wonder if the dealer puts tractors on sale after Christmas? 

So what did you wish for – either this year or when you were a kid – that Santa didn’t tuck under your tree?

In the spirit of Things You Didn't Get For Christmas, I've put So About the Money on sale – just in time to load up that new e-reader you got for Christmas!

Book one in the Holly Price series, the story romps through eastern Washington with its rivers, wineries, Native American casinos, and assorted farm animals. Add in some wicked fun chemistry between the CPA amateur sleuth and a local detective and Holly better solve the case before the next dead body found beside the river is hers. 

Amazon       Nook        Kobo        iBooks    

If you enjoy the story, send a copy of the review (any retail outlet) and I'll send you a gift copy of either Malbec Mayhem or Double Down. 

Send it to cathy@cperkinswrites.com or use the contact form on my website - http://cperkinswrites.com. You can sign up for my (infrequent) newsletter at the same time!

Drinking While Writing: A Guide

You’ve seen us writers at your local cafe. Scribbling, typing, drinking – all in a quest for those magical words.

Even if you’re not a writer yourself, you’ve probably heard the stories. How we need specific pens, or paper, or music, or lighting, or t-shirts – OK, we admit it, we can be as superstitious (*cough* neurotic *cough*) as professional athletes when it comes to cranking out our bliss. And never – never – get between us and our working beverage of choice.

Ever wondered if there's a logic to our liquids? Or have you assumed we’re all caffeine-addled addicts clutching at our dispensers of fluid-based sustenance in order to beat back creative desperation?

I'm here to help. My gift to you, just in time for the festive season: your very own first edition copy of The Writer to Normal Person Guide to Beverages Consumed While Working. 

Black Coffee:

You’re not messing around. You also left the house without your usual dose of caffeine. This is the jumpstart-my-day-but-quick drink of choice. Acceptable variations include Americano, Espresso, French Press, Cold Brew and the like.

Decaf Latte:

You took the weekend off, and you’ve already had a sizeable mug of the black stuff before you hit your favourite café or in-house office space. There’s optimism in those eyes of yours; you’ve had more than enough rest and nobody needs to have too much caffeine and maybe you’ll be cutting back on the stuff in the future. Note: this phenomenological choice rarely lasts for more than a day.

Half-Caf Latte:

The drink of those who need a bit of caffeine, but aren’t ready to commit to the full jolt ramifications of their actions.

Water:

It’s hot out. And you don’t have a lot of time to write today, but need to squeeze a few words out regardless because it’s a discipline and not a whim. Alternate scenarios include water while drinking any of the other options on this list because it's important to stay hydrated.

Tea, Iced:

You’re a dabbler. Or British. Either way, this is likely a passing phase from which you’ll recover once you get serious about this writing/lack of sleep thing.

Hot Chocolate:

When you want a bit of caffeine but it’s late in the day and you don’t really want to be up all night either. Helpful for PMS, a crisis-recovery hit of endorphins, and/or self-care when what you really want to do is drink wine but can’t. Frequently found on desks at day jobs after a late night of writing, followed by fantasies of becoming a best-selling author who no longer needs a day job for money.

Wine:

Existential angst. Crisis of faith, particularly faith in oneself. A bad review, or a manuscript out on submission a bit too long. You could also be writing a sex scene, the likes of which you really hope your mother won’t be reading.

Latte (A.K.A. The Usual):

You know what you want. And what you want is to be awake, with an option for that to happen while topped with a frothy milk (or milk substitute) topping of choice. You’ve already lost sleep this week, and this is your bargain with yourself in exchange for those few more words because of deadlines or guilt.

You're welcome. 😉

Beth Dranoff is the author of the Mark of the Moon series (Mark of the Moon and Betrayed by Blood), published by Carina Press / Harlequin. Shifting Loyalties, book 3, is expected out mid-2018. Dranoff lives in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada with her family, dog, and more books than she can count? Is it before noon? Then there's probably a mug of coffee nearby too.